I celebrated Independence Day this year by reflecting on the freedom we have as Americans. I also decided that we need to ask for more. There's always room for improvement in the quantity and quality of liberty the people of any given nation have, even if that nation is the United States of America. We should let freedom ring even louder today by asking for absolute freedom of speech and absolute property rights.

Absolute freedom of speech would mean the abolition of censorship, except for situations in which the failure to censor would place human lives in imminent danger. Otherwise, people would be free to say, display, hear, and view what they wanted without the fear of government intervention and/or legal action. We could retire the FCC and any other person or entity whose job it is to curb the speech or expression of free people. Sure, some people would have to learn how to tolerate being offended every now and then. Also, parents would have to take an active role in controlling what their children hear and see, instead of relying on government babysitters, as they do now.

Absolute property rights would mean property owners would have the right to actually do what they want with their own property. What a concept! The only exception would be that they would have to comply with reasonable safety standards determined by local municipalities. Property owners would no longer have to worry about eminent domain or restrictions such as land use zoning or limits on how close to their property line they could build structures. They wouldn't have to worry about someone else's definition of an "eyesore." They wouldn't have to worry about some civic group forcing them to preserve a "historic" structure on their property. Also, environmentalists would have to keep their hands off private property, no matter how many rare insects, fish, birds, and/or trees make it their home.